Irish Citizenship Application

In most cases, to be able to submit your Irish citizenship application, you have to have lived in Ireland for at least 5 years. If you are married to an Irish citizen, you can apply for Irish citizenship sooner, after just 3 years. Those who are living in Ireland with refugee status also can apply for citizenship after spending 3 years in the country.

For EU/EEA citizens and Swiss nationals, any time that they spend in Ireland will count towards reckonable residence.

Both non-EEA and EEA citizens who want to apply for Irish citizenship have to meet the following residency requirements:

• They have been legally resident in Ireland for 5 out of 9 years preceding the citizenship application
• They spent one year of continuous residence in Ireland immediately prior to the citizenship application.

You are allowed to leave Ireland in the year preceding your citizenship application for a maximum of 6 weeks without breaking the continuous residency period.

If you are not sure whether you meet the residency requirements to apply for Irish citizenship, get in touch with our lawyers. They will assess your circumstances and determine whether you can submit your application.

If you are married to or in a civil partnership with an Irish citizen, you can apply for Irish citizenship through marriage. In fact, it is one of the quickest routes to Irish citizenship as you can submit your application after living in Ireland for 3 years rather than having to spend at least 5 years as per the regular time requirement for citizenship.

Keep in mind that you have to have spent the required 3 years of reckonable residence in Ireland during the 5 years preceding your citizenship application. You also have to have spent  1 year of continuous residence in Ireland immediately prior to your application,

In addition to these time requirements, you have to meet the following conditions in order to be able to apply for Irish citizenship through marriage:

• You are 18 years of age or older
• You are married to or in a civil partnership with an Irish citizen
• Your marriage or civil partnership is recognized under Irish law
• You and your partner have been living together
• You and your partner plan to stay together and live in Ireland permanently
• You agree to make a declaration of fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State during the citizenship ceremony
• You can provide evidence confirming that your relationship is genuine
• You can prove that you are of good character
• You commit to respecting the laws and values of Ireland

Being married to an Irish citizen does not give you the automatic right to apply for Irish citizenship. To be able to submit your application, you need to meet numerous requirements. If your application for Irish citizenship through marriage is approved, you will be able to live in Ireland with your partner without any restrictions. You will be able to keep your citizenship even if you and your partner get divorced.

The fee for an Irish citizenship application is €175. You have to be aware of the fact that this fee is non-refundable so you will not get your money back even if your application is rejected.

If your Irish citizenship application is approved, you will also have to pay a fee for your Certificate of Naturalisation. The fees for that are:

• €950 for adults
• €200 for minors
• €200 for widows, widowers, and surviving partners of Irish citizens.

Those who are living in Ireland with refugee status do not have to pay the fee for their Certificate of Naturalisation.

To pay for both the application fee and the Certificate of Naturalisation you have to use the bank draft payment method. No other payment methods are accepted and both payments have to be drawn from an Irish bank and made payable to the Secretary-General, Department of Justice & Equality.

During the application process for your Irish citizenship, you might also have to pay other fees, for example, for having certain documents issued or translated. And, if you want to apply for an Irish passport later, you will also have to pay additional fees.

The waiting time for Irish citizenship varies as each case is unique. If your circumstances are complex, you might have to wait longer than other applicants applying at the same time. Nevertheless, most applications are processed within 12 months of the date of the immigration office receiving your application.

The waiting time can be longer if you forget to include some of the required documents, however. If that happens, you will have 28 days to provide them. During this period, the processing of your application will be put on hold.

After the initial processing, your application will be sent to the Minister of Justice & Equality for consideration. They make the final decision on whether to approve your Irish citizenship application.

If your application is approved, you will receive a letter from Immigration Service Delivery. You will also get an invitation to attend a citizenship ceremony during which you will receive your naturalization certificate, confirming your Irish citizenship. You need to go to your ceremony to finalize the process of becoming an Irish citizen. Citizenship ceremonies are held a few times a year and they usually last a couple of hours.

If your application for Irish citizenship is accepted, you will receive an invitation to attend a citizenship ceremony. Typically, you will receive the invitation at least 4 weeks before it is due to happen.

Taking part in the ceremony is the final step of the application process to become an Irish citizen by naturalization. During the ceremony, you have to make a formal declaration of fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the Republic of Ireland. You will be given the words of the declaration beforehand so you do not have to worry about memorizing them.

Your invitation letter will explain what documents you need to take with you to complete the application process. Usually, you have to bring your Irish Residence Permit and official identification such as your national ID or passport from your country of origin.

When you arrive at the ceremony, you need to register. After you complete the registration, you will receive your Certificate of Naturalisation, which serves as proof of your Irish citizenship. Make sure to keep it safe as it is impossible to replace it. If at some point you lose your certificate, you will be issued a statement confirming your Irish citizenship instead.

During registration, you will also receive a ceremony booklet where you can find the following information:

• Details regarding applying for your Irish passport
• Explanation of your right to register to vote
• Circumstances in which your Irish citizenship can be revoked
• Words of the Irish national anthem.

You can bring one guest to the ceremony and the event, which usually lasts a few hours, will be streamed online.

Before a referendum in 2004, all individuals born on the island of Ireland had the right to Irish citizenship. So, those who were born in Ireland before 1 January 2005 are eligible for Irish citizenship by birth.

Those who were born in Ireland after 31 December 2004 are entitled to Irish citizenship if at least one of their parents was an Irish or UK citizen at the time of their birth.

People who were born abroad but either of their parents was an Irish citizen at the time of their birth also automatically become Irish citizens by birth.

These rules apply not only when parents were born in Ireland themselves but also when they became Irish citizens by naturalization later in their lives.

To claim Irish citizenship by birth, eligible individuals need to have their birth registered in the Foreign Births Register. If you determine that you are eligible for Irish citizenship by birth and you want to register your birth, you need to provide the following documents:

• Your birth certificate
• Your passport
• Two proofs of address
• Four passport-size photographs
• A birth certificate confirming the Irish citizenship of the person you want to get your citizenship through
• Photocopy of an identification document of the person you are basing your application on
• Death certificate if the person you are applying through has passed away

Your Irish citizenship will be effective from the registration date.

If one of your grandparents was born in Ireland, you might be able to get Irish citizenship by descent even if you were born abroad to parents who were not Irish citizens. That means that if one of your parents or grandparents was an Irish citizen at the time of your birth, you can become an Irish citizen.

You can claim your Irish citizenship by descent through grandparents but not through other ancestors such as cousins, uncles, or aunts. To become an Irish citizen by descent, you need to register your birth in the Foreign Births Register.

Keep in mind that to claim Irish citizenship by descent, you usually have to prove that you have a connection to Ireland. To demonstrate it, you can, for example, provide evidence showing that you have spent a lot of time legally residing in Ireland.

If you are not sure how to claim your Irish citizenship by descent, get in touch with our lawyers. They have helped many clients successfully become Irish citizens and they explain to you in detail how you can register your birth in the Foreign Births Register. They will also help you gather documents that confirm your connection to Ireland.

Once you receive your naturalization certificate and you officially become an Irish citizen, you can apply for your Irish passport. To do so, you have to complete an online application form. Alternatively, you can go to the post office to send your application or meet someone working in a Passport Office counter service. Nevertheless, these two options are more expensive and take more time than applying online.

To successfully obtain your Irish passport, you have to submit the following documents:

• Identity document with a photograph, for example, your national id or driver’s license
• Proof of your Irish citizenship (your naturalization certificate if you became an Irish citizen by naturalization)
• 4 passport size photographs (make sure to sign and date 2 of them)
• Proof of address in the form of, for example, utility bills or bank statements.

Keep in mind that all documents have to be original.

As part of the application process for your Irish passport, you have to pay the relevant fees. For a standard passport with 34 pages, valid for 10 years, you have to pay:

• €75 if you are applying online (you need to pay €5 extra if you live outside of Ireland)
• €80 if you are using the Passport Express application (and €9,50 extra for shipping)
• €95 if you are applying in person.

For a larger passport with 66 pages, you need to pay €105.

The waiting time for an Irish passport is between 6 to 8 weeks on average for those applying for their first passport.

The Irish passport is one of the most powerful passports in the world. Those who hold it can travel to 187 countries without having to obtain a visa. Moreover, Ireland is a member state of the European Union so holders of the Irish passport can:

• Travel freely between EU member states
• Work in EU member states without having to obtain work permits
• Study in EU member states without needing a visa.

If you have children, you will pass your Irish and EU citizenship to them and you will be able to apply for an Irish passport for them.

Applying for Irish citizenship can be complicated as there are many requirements you need to meet and documents you have to provide to prove your eligibility. The exact evidence and criteria vary depending on the route you want to venture down to get your Irish citizenship.

Our lawyers can assess your circumstances and help you whether you are eligible to become an Irish citizen. If so, they can guide you through each step of the application process, making it straightforward and stress-free. Your immigration lawyer will be around to answer all your questions and clear any doubts you might have.

At IAS, we have a team of dedicated lawyers who are committed to helping clients immigrate to Ireland. Thanks to their professional help you will be able to complete your immigration journey and become an Irish citizen, gaining the right to stay in the country permanently without any restrictions.

If during the application process you do not provide sufficient evidence confirming your eligibility for Irish citizenship, your application might be rejected. You can minimize the risks of that happening by hiring an immigration lawyer. They will review your application before you submit it to make sure you included all the supporting documents and completed all the forms correctly.

Call us today at +1 844 290 6312 to find out more about how our team can help.